This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).
This RTG grant at the University of Washington (UW) supports an array of activities that will enhance the education and training of undergraduate students, graduate students, and early career postdoctoral researchers in the field of inverse problems and partial differential equations (IPDE). A highlight of the project is a summer school for advanced undergraduate and beginning graduate students. The school will consist of two three-week courses that introduce students to current research techniques in IPDE. Topics will include both theoretical models and numerical tools. These courses will be supplemented by week-long guest lecturers, who will give talks that complement the main topics. The summer school will be coordinated with the Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program at UW that is run by co-PI James Morrow. The budget includes funding for three UW students to attend the REU program, and for a teaching assistant to offset the increased workload. The IPDE group will additionally institute a Visiting Academic and Industrial Internship Program for its graduate students. Advanced graduate students will be offered the opportunity to work with senior researchers at institutions in the US and abroad. Past IPDE students have profited from such visits to other universities, as well as to research laboratories at Chevron and Lawrence Livermore. RTG funding will allow the IPDE group to systematize this practice and make it available to all IPDE students. A significant portion of the grant is to provide for the support of graduate students and postdoctoral assistants. Funding is included for a total of eight years of postdoctoral fellows at 50% support and for an average of seven graduate students in graduate traineeships each year of the grant. Graduate students will be supported for two quarters of the academic year, as well as for the summer quarter. Postdoctoral fellows will receive their remaining salary through teaching a 50% normal load. Travel funds are included for both graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. Undergraduate stipends are also provided to fund undergraduate research projects and internships in local laboratories. The IPDE seminar series will be enhanced through a preseminar series of lectures, and funding is provided for extended visits to the department by seminar speakers.
IPDE is an active field that encompasses research in seismic exploration, medical imaging, and models arising in physical theories. The RTG grant provides significant support for graduate education in this area during a period of reduced local funding for teaching assistant positions. The average of fourteen quarters per year of graduate traineeship support in the budget will allow the department to sustain a vital graduate student population, and provide US citizen and permanent resident IPDE students with release time from teaching duties to devote to research. These graduate students will receive funding under the budgeted Academic and Industrial Internship Program for extended visits to other universities and research laboratories. They will establish contacts with potential employers and build relations with additional academic mentors. These contacts will be created at stages in their careers before they have the responsibilities of academic positions and will assist them throughout their early careers. The funding for postdoctoral associate positions will allow IPDE members to leverage department and college funds to form a viable group of postdoctoral researchers. The 50% teaching load will provide additional time for postdoctoral associates to devote to research; travel funds will allow for visits to other institutions. The summer school will attract advanced undergraduate and beginning graduate students from across the country and introduce them to current research topics in the field of IPDE. The department will be able to identify potential students to recruit to its graduate program, and the graduate support funds will allow us to attract top candidates. Support for the REU program will sponsor the participation of three students each year from UW. This program attracts applications nationwide, and there are many more qualified applicants than can be currently funded. A number of strong applicants come through the honors undergraduate courses at UW and will be recruited for the REU program. Funding for an additional TA position to assist with running the REU will benefit all participants and provide an advanced undergraduate or graduate student with support during the summer. The collective activities of the RTG grant will strengthen the IPDE program at UW at all career levels, and introduce students nationwide to this important area of research.
